Tag: American River College football

Hunter Rodrigues may have to bide his time at UC Davis after transferring from American River College, where he passed for 23 touchdowns and rushed for 14 scores as a freshman in 2017.

Playing the waiting game is nothing new for Hunter Rodrigues. If it pays off for the quarterback at UC Davis as it did last season at American River College, the Aggies will be sitting pretty in 2020 with Rodrigues calling the signals.

Rodrigues waited in 2016 after graduating from Whitney High School in Rocklin. His statistics as a senior – 3,154 yards and 45 touchdowns passing to go with 642 yards and six touchdowns rushing – did not earn him a scholarship. He settled for going to American River and then taking a grayshirt season to avoid losing a year of eligibility.

Grayshirts can attend classes as part-time students, thus rendering them ineligible, until they go full time on scholarship. Such a scenario made sense for Rodrigues because American River was set at quarterback with Griffin Dahn.

Accepting that was much easier than going through a season as a glorified spectator on the sideline. And with nothing better to do, Rodrigues was occasionally summoned to feed the referees with an ample supply of footballs. Imagine the embarrassment of serving as a ball boy with his relatives and friends watching from the bleachers.

“That was a pretty long year,” Rodrigues lamented.

Jake Maier (15) keeps an eye on Rodrigues from the sideline during a recent practice at UC Davis.

One season at American River was enough for Dahn to receive a scholarship to Nevada. That opened the door for Rodrigues to become the starter for the Beavers in 2017. The 6-foot, 180-pound Rodrigues showed no fear or signs of rust in throwing for 2,191 yards and 23 touchdowns as well as rushing for 478 yards and 14 scores.

American River would have loved more of the same from Rodrigues in 2018, but the sophomore followed Dahn’s lead by being done after one year with the Beavers. A scholarship offer from UC Davis is to blame for his departure.

Jon Osterhout is entering his fifth season as American River’s head coach in need of a starting quarterback. Rodrigues’ return would have made his life easier – and his offense more potent –but Osterhout will not stand in the way of an athlete he described as having “all of the intangibles you look for in a quarterback and certainly has the ‘it’ factor. Extremely athletic, quick release, high football IQ and natural ability to lead through his actions.”

That explains why UC Davis pursued Rodrigues even though it might be a year of two before he climbs the depth chart. This could turn out to be another season of standing on the sideline for Rodrigues, at least not as a ball boy.

The Aggies are set at quarterback with Jake Maier, who was the Big Sky Conference Newcomer of the Year in 2017 with 3,669 passing yards and 25 touchdowns as a sophomore. The transfer from Long Beach City College set school records for completions (306) and 300-yard passing games (nine) in a season. The offense is clearly his.

Rodrigues is battling sophomore Brock Johnson to be Maier’s understudy, and Johnson has an advantage in the competition. Johnson redshirted in 2017 after transferring from Georgetown, so this season will cost him a year of eligibility and leave him with two. If he is active for games, the Aggies might as well get some use out of him.

Redshirting Rodrigues would leave him with three years of eligibility. And with redshirts now allowed to play in as many as four games without losing eligibility, UC Davis gets a free look at Rodrigues. The possibility of redshirting did not stop Rodrigues from accepting the Aggies’ scholarship offer. Then again, it was the only one he got.

“I knew of Jake. He’s a great quarterback,” Rodrigues explained. “I always felt I was going to redshirt and learn from him.”